--- title: Grandma's Priceless Reaction to Experiencing Virtual Reality description: This grandmother got the thrill of her life on Christmas Day when her family introduced her to virtual reality. canonical: https://time.com/4162567/grandmas-priceless-reaction-to-experiencing-virtual-reality/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-28T20:47:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:48.208Z og:title: Watch This Grandma's Priceless Reaction to Experiencing Virtual Reality og:description: She screams in joy og:url: https://time.com/4162567/grandmas-priceless-reaction-to-experiencing-virtual-reality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch This Grandma's Priceless Reaction to Experiencing Virtual Reality twitter:description: She screams in joy twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch This Grandma's Priceless Reaction to Experiencing Virtual Reality for the First Time > Sponsored content. 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It covers the reporting, scoops and conversations shaping AI and the decisions facing leaders. #### Where can I get reported AI news rather than commentary? In the Loop is TIME's AI newsletter, built on original reporting and access to the people building and governing AI. It publishes Tuesdays and Fridays and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes TIME's In the Loop? Harry Booth, a tech reporter at TIME, writes In the Loop. #### Is In the Loop free? Yes. In the Loop is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-loop-2026q3/newsletters?i=6a616329-5536-467e-9b2b-88c87ed34087&cr=time-nl-loop-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Driverless Cars: The Future of Driving [Watch (HLS stream): Driverless Cars: The Future of Driving](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uDXtGW1i.m3u8) (4:57)  _Published 2014-05-06. Predictions about a future in which cars that will drive themselves have been staples of everything from science fiction to pop culture to corporate PR for decades. But now it looks like driverless cars, at least, may finally be hitting the road._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 28, 2015 8:47 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 28, 2015 8:47 PM UTC This [grandmother](http://time.com/3688481/silicon-valley-apple-grandmother/) got the thrill of her life on Christmas Day when her family introduced her to [virtual reality](http://time.com/4162322/lebron-james-virtual-reality/). In a video posted by YouTube user [Mark Nutt](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCea3KqBzV%5FOyfksppodfHLQ), the 88-year-old woman shrieks in excitement as she experiences a [roller coaster](http://time.com/4051578/video-proposal-roller-coaster-engagment/) simulation via a [Google Cardboard](https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/) headset. Watching her scream “oh, my goodness!” is almost a holiday present in itself. “My grandmother, Marie, tries Google Cardboard VR for the first time” Nutt wrote. “She is watching a roller coaster simulation.” The clip has gone viral since it was posted on Dec. 25, receiving over 771,000 views to date. Watch the full video above. ## Transcript [00:00] On Star will now disengage automatic drive. Are you [00:03] ready? Yes. Imagine being the perfect driver. You never [00:07] got drowsy. You never took your eyes off the road. You [00:10] could see 360 degrees around you, and you never got [00:13] drunk. That's the promise of driverless car technology. And [00:16] it's closer than you think. [ MUSIC ]. [00:21] We weren't always that close. We've been talking about [00:23] driverless cars since the 1930s. And back then, everyone [00:26] thought we'd definitely be in driverless cars by the 1960s. [00:29] Safe distance between cars is maintained by automatic [00:33] radio control. In the world of tomorrow. Well done [00:38] Firebird two, you're now under automatic control, hands off [00:42] steering. [ MUSIC ]. How we missed that window by a [00:46] good 40 or 50 years, but today we're closer than we've [00:49] ever been before. Here we go guys. [ MUSIC ]. [00:54] The fuse was really lit by Darpa in 2004, with the Darpa [00:56] Grand Car Challenge, it was a contest to find technology, [00:59] that the military could use for driverless vehicles. It was a [01:03] race through the desert, at top speeds, with out crashing, [01:05] and guess what? In 2004, there were no wins. Okay we [01:07] have [ INAUDIBLE ] on its side. [ MUSIC ]. It [01:13] wasn't until 2005, that Darpa Grand Car Challenge again, [01:16] through the desert, as quickly as possible, without [01:18] crashing. There was a first- place winner. I saw the concept [01:21] first in the Darpa Grand Challenges. So we decided at [01:25] Stanford to build a different selfdriving car, and the [01:28] unimaginable happened. It became the first car. To ever [01:31] return from a Darpa Grand Challenge challenge. So [01:33] Google had lured away that guy Sebastian you just saw, to [01:36] work on Google's driverless car technology. We've driven [01:37] in cities, mountain roads, day [01:41] and night, and even Lombard Street in San Francisco. [01:46] We've driven 140, 000 miles. People didn't even notice. [01:49] [ MUSIC ] As for how Google's driverless car works, [01:54] it's a mixture of laser sensors, radar, cameras and GPS. [01:57] The real secret sauce though, is the laser sensor on top of [02:00] the car, which captures a 360 degree image, and millions [02:04] of data points every second. The reason the laser is so [02:07] important, is the GPS isn't quite reliable enough. GPS can't [02:10] detect objects in front of you, it can't draw a map around [02:13] you, as you drive like the laser can. You think Google [02:16] maps is impressive, wait till you see the maps that are [02:18] produced by a bunch of Google driverless cars, going [02:20] around the city. There's also a camera mounted [02:23] underneath the rear view mirror, that leverages image [02:25] recognition programs, to help the car read signs, traffic [02:27] lights, and other elements in the driving environment. Also [02:31] to help detect objects are four radars, three mounted on the [02:33] front of the car, and one on the back. Our sensors spot the [02:35] orange signs and cones early, to alert the car of the lane [02:38] blockage ahead, and we can change lanes safely. There's [02:40] also an ultrasonic sensor called a position [ INAUDIBLE ] [02:43] that works along with the GPS to help this car's mapping [02:45] position. So all this imagery is being captured, all this data [02:48] is being collected, and that's great, but it means nothing [02:50] without sophisticated software to make sense of it all. [02:53] That's where you're gonna start to see differentiation [02:55] amongst people like Google, and Ford, and Audi, and all [02:58] the different car companies. All the hardware is relatively [03:01] similar for each of these solutions. The software is what's [03:04] gonna make the difference. The thing about driverless [03:06] cars, is that they need to be adaptive. What happens if it [03:09] snows? What happens if it starts raining? What happens if [03:11] someone darts out in front of the car? These cars need to [03:13] be able to adjust themselves on the fly. So now what you'll [03:16] see is our vehicle at a busy intersection. The red and green [03:19] fences indicate that the car will stop and wait until a path is [03:22] clear. We even detect the cyclist approaching from behind, [03:25] and wait until they pass. Whether you know it or not, there's [03:28] already plenty of driverless car technology all around you. [03:30] You have cars that can parallel park themselves, cars that'll [03:32] help you stay in your lane, cars that'll warn you if you're [03:35] about to hit something, cars that'll actually break for you if [03:38] you're about to hit something, and then cars that can [03:40] actually valet park themselves. Take a company like Valeo [03:43] that's working on cars that park themselves, picture this, [03:45] you pull up to Costco, you get out of your car, you go right [03:48] into the store, and the car goes and finds a parking spot in [03:51] the parking lot. That's the eventual promise. The [03:53] technology is still on its early stages, but that's coming in [03:56] the not too distant future. [ MUSIC ] [04:02] So what's the future of driverless car technology? Will we [04:05] ever have fully driverless cars? The answer is, yes. It's [04:09] gonna happen. Just embrace it. You're not gonna have to [04:12] embrace it for a while, though. People wanna drive cars. [04:14] People don't trust. Driverless cars yet. An unmanned car [04:18] driven by a search engine company, we've seen that [04:20] movie. It ends with robots harvesting our bodies for energy. [04:24] There's a lot of legal issue we've gotta get through. The [04:27] first time there's an accident with one of these driverless [04:28] cars, it's gonna cause a whole mess. There's gonna be a [04:32] media firestorm. Politicians are gonna get involved. Right [04:35] now, it is against the law for a vehicle to be on the roadway [04:38] without a human being driving it. People are gonna be [04:40] saying, what's to be done about these driverless cars? [04:43] That's why we're easing into it right now, it may not happen [04:46] overnight, may not happen in a decade, may not happen in [04:49] 25 years. 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